– Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Asia Land Forum 2019 started here in Udaipur with nearly a thousand Dalits, Adivasis, Pastoralists and other landless communities and those depended on commons came on a platform to fight for their rights. Activists and land rights defenders, policy makers, members of international organisations from 13 Asian countries as well as from Europe are here to deliberate on various issues related to agrarian and land reforms.
Young member of Parliament from Kerala, Ms Ramya passionately sang a song while Ekta Parishad founder P V Rajagopal spoke of threat to livelihood of thousands of people and efforts to ensure that the lonely planet remain safe. He talked about his ten thousand kilometer long march from Delhi to Geneva for Peace and justice.
International Land Coalition director Micheal Taylor expressed solidarity with the struggling people particularly Dalits, Adivasis, Pastoralists who are the protector of our environment and forest. He also questioned the developmental model which threaten to displace millions of people without seeking their opinion and consent. He asked that all project need to implement Free Prior Informed Consent concept.
MARAG founder Lal ji Bhai Desai spoke about the struggle against SIR in Gujarat and said that whether it is Dalits, Adivasis, Maldharis, all love nature and consider Earth their mother. They can not compromise with the dignity of their mother. He called for unity among all.
Activists raised the issues of Forest Rights Acts and attempt to dilute it. In the name of Environment people are being displaced and rather than empowering Adivasis and other forest dwellers, the government actually is empowering corporations and Forest Department. People have been made criminals on their own land.
Don Marquese from Philippines spoke about failed land reformed in his country while Pallav Chakma from Chakma Hill Track, Bangladesh spoke about growing alienation of adivasis and failure of the Bangladesh government to sign the Indigenous People’s declaration of 2007.
Vidya Bhushan Rawat said that there was lack of political will in implementation of land reform laws because the upper caste political leadership never wanted to change the power equations in villages. He said that Jai Jagat will not succeed unless India’s Dalits, Adivasis face caste and community discriminations and villages though romanticised by Gandhi, still remain den of feudalism, superstition and nepotism. Indian villages even today are the biggest and best example of how caste system operate as Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar had said long back. Democracy will never succeed unless there is social democracy and it will never happen unless there is equal redistribution of land to people or nationalisation of it. Many may call it a dream but we will have to fight.
We brought Zamindari abolition act but it failed. Land Ceiling Act has not been implemented. My point is clear, Land has two important issues today related to Dalits and Adivasis. One, for the Dalits who were denied historically, the right to own land, so that need land legally by the government. The Adivasis had land in their forest and they nurtured it but today, they have been hounded out from their land and are being declared as encroachers. The Wild Life fundamentalists and corporate environmentalists have created a dirt through their money power which make Adivasis and other Forest Dwellers criminal in their own land. It is therefore important to protect Adivasi land as they are the protector of nature and not the forest department or World Wide Funds. My appeal was that our Land Ceiling Laws must be amended to stop their misuse and circumvention. All the corporate farming, gaushalas, religious trusts, educational and other charitable institutions must be put under the land ceiling limit. You can not give them unlimited power related to land. The land declared ceiling surplus must be distributed and people should be given possession and not merely entitlement which are show pieces as in most of the places in UP and Bihar, people have land papers but no access to their land.
Forest Rights act must be strictly implemented and Adivasis must be given a role in managing the forest.
The session was chair by Amitabh Behar, country head of Oxfam India, who also spoke about the dangers of corporate take over. He emphasised that the land laws need to be strictly implemented as well as some of them need to be amended. Forest Rights act too must be strictly implemented and rights of the forest dwellers must be protected. He expressed concern over the corporate take over of India’s land and forest.
